North Fork Championships this weekend; plus Brundage, Tamarack and Bogus Basin open for summer season!

A kayaker paddles through a giant frothing hole/wave on the North Fork Payette River.
Photo by SS 

Hi all, 

I stopped by the North Fork of the Payette River today on my way down to Boise from McCall, and I had a chance to watch a number of kayakers participating in the North Fork Championships practice the slalom course in Jacob's Ladder Rapids, the largest and steepest Class 5 drop on the North Fork. 

It's just amazing to stand by the North Fork and feel its thundering power - especially at the top of Jake's! It scares me just to stand there and watch boaters go through the expert-only super-challenging rapids! 

The first slalom gate comes immediately following the first steep drop into the rapids. Competitors have to fly into an eddy on river left as they make the drop, do a quick 180-degree turn, paddle upstream, go around the slalom gate, and then dig in the paddle and carve into a ferocious eddy turn into the center of the raging river, where the kayakers can get churned up in the major turbulence or best case, make a clean entry and zip to the next slalom gate. 

These are some of the nation's best Class 5 kayakers, and they're here kayaking on the North Fork of the Payette River for the North Fork Championships. The event started on Thursday, June 16, and continues through Saturday, June 18, for the North Fork slalom event. I think it's well-worth watching! 

Hang on to that brace buddy! Photo by SS

On Thursday, there was an expert downriver race in S-turn Rapids, just above Big Eddy Campground, on the North Fork. Friday, there's a downriver Boater X race, also in S-turn Rapids, starting at 12:30 p.m. 

The main event, the elite North Fork slalom race in Jacob's Ladder, starts at 1 p.m. Saturday. The kayaker with the fastest time and clean slalom runs wins the race (best of two runs). There are men's and women's elite divisions; a total of 150 kayakers will be participating. 

If you can get up there early and stake out a spot on the North Fork to watch the races, it will be a spectacular thing to see!   

With the warmer weather this week, it seems like summer is finally kicking in! 

Steve Jones amid the flowers in Ponderosa State Park. 

The snow is finally melted around McCall. Hiking and biking trails in Ponderosa State Park are in great shape. The campers are beginning to filter in! Lots of people are hiking and biking at Jug Mountain Ranch as well as on trails around McCall, like the North Valley Rail-Trail, McCall Greenbelt, and Spring Mountain Ranch bike trails.  

Brundage Mountain Resort opens their mountain bike trails this weekend, plus people are encouraged to ski/ride off the top of the mountain as well. Ha! That's kind of a hoot! The Bluebird Express will be running all day Friday-Sunday, plus food and beverage services at the base area. See their announcement about opening weekend, beginning on Friday, June 17, and about future events. The Brundage concert series starts on July 8, plus there's a 4th of July music fest. 

Plenty of snow still at the Brundage summit.

Tamarack Resort's mountain bike park and Tam Express chairlift begin operating this weekend as well on Friday, June 17, and then Tam will remain open seven days a week through the summer season. Riders can enjoy 1,700 vertical feet of downhill riding on the Tam downhill trails, plus there's xc trails worth exploring at the Tamarack base area. There's also zipline tours, waterfront services with boat rentals, and food and beverage. 

Bogus Basin also will be opening for 7-day-a-week operations on Friday. People can ride the Deer Point or Morning Star chairlifts, ride gravity mountain bike trails, ride the Mountain Coaster, go hiking. or engage in other activities in the base area. Food and Beverage as well.    

There you have it! Have a great weekend! 
- SS 

 

New detailed guide now available for Boulder-White Clouds; Go see North Fork Championships - Big Whitewate Fun!

Matt Leidecker is a professional photographer and explorer.
I recommend his new guide on the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains

Matt checks out the scenery in the BWC's. He covered 526 miles
and 127,000 verts in researching the guide for hiking and biking.  

Top of Jerry Peak (Matt Leidecker photo)

Sapphire Lake (Matt Leidecker photo)

Castle Divide and Castle Peak (Matt Leidecker photo)

Big Boulder Lakes (Matt Leidecker photo)

Hi all,

After a wonderful week of cool unstable weather, things are smoothing out this weekend, at least on Friday and Sunday. A small chance of rain (20%) is forecast for Saturday, with highs in the 70s in Boise, but I wouldn't let that keep you from going out to watch the North Fork Championships on the single gnarliest section of the North Fork of the Payette River, near Banks, Idaho.

Here's a video teaser about the event.

It's amazing to watch these world-class kayakers leap into the North Fork from the Red Bull boat ramp, right at the top of Jacob's Ladder Rapids, and not only negotiate the steep, chaotic rapids, but also follow a distinct line through slalom gates to win points ... or not. Any slight change in the river currents or a paddle stroke can screw up your line!

The event starts at 1 p.m. Saturday along Jacob's Ladder Rapids, about 8 miles north of Banks, on Idaho 55. Get there early to get a sweet viewing spot on the banks of the river! Tomorrow afternoon, there's a BoaterX race on S-turn rapids on the North Fork, starting at 3 p.m. Six kayakers race through the rapids and the fastest two advance to the next round. Should be wild!

Matt Leidecker 

This week, I also wanted to call attention to Matt Leidecker's new guidebook, Exploring the Boulder-White Clouds - A Comprehensive Guide. Talk about being Johnny on the spot! The Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness was created by Congress last August, and Matt has his book ready for retail sales as the summer recreation season kicks into high gear. Kudos to him!

He's been running a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of raising $4,000 to cover printing costs of the guide, and lo and behold, he's surpassed his goal with $6,252 in contributions -- presales revenues for people who pre-ordered books, maps, note cards, photographs, etc. It's a great concept to fund a guidebook via Kickstarter. It worked also for Mark Lisk and me to cover printing costs for our award-winning book, The Owyhee Canyonlands - An Outdoor Adventure Guide.

As anyone knows who has a Matt Leidecker paddling or hiking/biking guide, he really digs into the subject matter and produces a very comprehensive guide, with all of information you would expect about each trail, high-quality photographs, maps, history and geology. The BWC guide is no exception. He covered 526 miles, climbed 127,000 vertical feet on foot or bike over 50 days of exploration. "I wanted to give people the best overall picture of what's out there," he said in an interview with Boise State Radio.

He has detailed descriptions and maps to every drainage in the Boulder-White Clouds area, inside and outside the wilderness, including the new Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness between the East Fork of the Salmon River and Trail Creek Road, an area that many hikers haven't explored. I look forward to doing some trips in that area in the future. You can tell from all of Matt's descriptions that he's been there. Besides following trails, he provides off-trail hiking suggestions in places. I also liked a concise wildflower guide in the back of the book with color photos - that's handy!

East Pass Falls (Matt Leidecker photo)

BTW, here the big-picture online wilderness maps from Congressman Simpson's office, it will help with trip planning: White Clouds Wilderness, Hemingway Boulders Wilderness, Jim McClure-Jerry Peak Wilderness.

For destination backpacking in the White Clouds, consider heading into the backcountry from the Fourth of July trailhead and hiking to Chamberlain Lakes. Take a side trip to climb Castle Peak! Or, hike the Little Boulder Trail to the Boulder Chain Lakes -- this is a very popular area in July and August. Same goes with the Big Boulder Creek Trail to Walker Lake and then Sapphire and Cove Lakes above there.

While those sterling high mountain lake areas are tough to beat, get a copy of Leidecker's guide to discover some more off-the-beaten path locations in the BWC area. I've always wanted to do the Big Casino-Little Casino loop on my bike (19.4 miles, 3,976 verts), or try to climb the Boundary Creek Trail to the Casino Lakes. I've hiked Boundary Creek just part way up until we hit snow, and the views into the Sawtooths across the valley is spectacular! All of those trails are rated "H" for "Hard."

The other place you have to go in the BWC's is Railroad Ridge! I did a post about driving up there in my Ford F-150 after Wendy had knee surgery several years ago. I also included RR Ridge in my Top 5 car-camping spots last summer. We got there when the wildflowers were peaking, and it was utterly spectacular! I scrambled down to Crater Lake to fly fish, while Wendy hung out and enjoyed the flowers. And then we camped at 11,000-plus feet there on the bare ridge, feeling like we were on top of the world. Very cool place!

Railroad Ridge with flowers going off everywhere! SS photo. 

For more information about where to buy Leidecker's BWC guide, see his web site. The new guide also is available at Idaho Mountain Touring, McU Sports, Boise REI, Backcountry Pursuit, Outdoor Exchange and Lonecone.
- SS

Fun events! Big Water Blowout River Festival; Sheep, Music and Lamb Feed in the Foothills

Now that's one big river hole! (all photos courtesy of the Big Water Blowout)

Swimmer? 

Music this year is by the "Wasteland Kings"

Hi all,

The weekend forecast looks quite dandy with temps in the high 70s in Riggins, the self-avowed whitewater capital of Idaho, and home to a super-fun annual event aptly called the "Big Water Blowout River Festival."

It's all happening on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. in Riggins. Meet at Riggins City Park (on the right, on the north end of town, as you're traveling north). Check out the vid.

A big bonus associated with the Big Water Blowout event is that guided river trips are available for only $30, which is less than half the price of a typical guided half-day float trip. So for those folks who don't have their own river gear, it's a great opportunity to go rafting through some fun rapids with the pros, and then have a blast in the whole party scene that follows the river trip, including live music and a Dutch oven cookoff.

If you're a river nut, you've got to go. If you've always wanted to try whitewater rafting, you've got to go. If you think you're a river god or goddess, show up and see how the river trip and the D.O. cook-off shakes out. Dress up! Get the river attitude cranked up!

Here's how the event is described by the hosts in Riggins:

This is an action packed, family fun event with experienced Outfitters and Guides offering discounted raft trips all day. Come paddle HUGE Rapids, and enjoy the magnificent scenery and wildlife in the second deepest gorge in North America. Get your thrill seeking in, and see all the rafts, catarafts, kayaks, and dories go BIG and ride boat munching waves with names like The Pencil Sharpener, The Pancake Wave, The Big Easy and The Haystack.

The Salmon River is running 25,000 cubic feet per second at Whitebird, so it's up, but not at a death-defying  level (could be 75,000+ in a bigger snowpack year). The Salmon probably has peaked, according to the snowpack/river flow experts, so if you're into running big water, seize the day NOW.
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Sheep move into the Boise Foothills near the Corrals Trail in April. 

Closer to home, there's a cool event going on Saturday at the Foothills Learning Center. It's called "Sheep in the Foothills." It's a family friendly event, great for kids, to learn about the domestic sheep that graze through the Boise Foothills in the spring as they make their way into the high country in the Boise National Forest.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be herding-dog demonstrations, sheep, sheep camps, sheep-shearing, music by Gary and Cindy Braun, a lamb feast for lunch (my favorite!), wool crafts and more.

Because of limited parking at the Foothills Center, transportation is being provided to the event at no charge. Park at Fort Boise Community Center near St. Luke's. Shuttles begin at 10 a.m. and continue every 30 minutes through 1 p.m.

The event is co-sponsored by Idaho Rangeland Resource Commission, Idaho Wool Growers Association, and Boise Parks & Recreation.
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Juicer at 5,000 cfs 

The North Fork Championships are happening again next week, June 6-8, on the world-renowned North Fork of the Payette River, near Banks, Idaho, with an expanded menu of events. Besides the qualifier race on the lower three miles of the North Fork at 11 a.m. Thursday, June 6, and the Elite Race at noon Saturday, June 8th in Jacob's Ladder Rapids, the single-steepest and most challenging drop on the North Fork, there will be a "Boatercross/enduro" race at 5 p.m. Friday, June 7th on S-Turn Rapids near milepost 90 on Idaho 55. Read Roger Phillips column in the Statesman for all of the details. That's a must-see event!

Have fun!
- SS

Weiser River Trail Bike Ride; North Fork kayak races; SWIMBA 20th anniversary event ... lots of fun things to do this weekend

Fun underpass section of the Weiser River Trail, north of Council 

There are numerous planked bridges along the Weiser River Trail.

Here's Steve on the Weiser River Trail south of Cambridge ... the upper end is mostly forested. But the southern part is worth riding as well ... plenty of open space along the Weiser River away from U.S. 95. 

Hi all,

This is one of those weekends where you may wish that you could be in two places at once, or even three ... because there are a number of fun events going on, and you'll have to choose which ones work best for you.

There's still time to sign up for the sixth annual Weiser River Trail Bike Ride on Saturday, June 9. This is a fund-raiser of sorts for the Weiser River Trail -- the longest rail-trail in Idaho -- and it's a great cause to support. Plus, you can have fun riding 28 miles mostly downhill on the upper end of the Weiser River Trail!

I've ridden the Weiser River Trail multiple times over the years. It runs for 84 miles from Rubicon, a few miles west of New Meadows, to the city of Weiser, along the Weiser River. The surface is compacted gravel for most of the route. The upper end is the most scenic and fun, in my opinion. After you pass by the Evergreen sawmill, the trail winds along the upper Weiser River canyon, and you can really crank up the speed through here, with the aid of gravity. You'll pass by occasional meadows and ranches in a forested setting.

The tour stops for lunch near a WRT trailhead by Starkey Hot Springs. You will have traveled 18 miles by this point, and have 10 miles to finish. Once the downhill section ends, the final push to Council is mostly flat through a tranquil valley away from U.S. 95 most of the way.

The event starts at 9 a.m. Saturday in Council, where you can register, pay fees, get a T-shirt and board a shuttle vehicle to the start of the tour. Volunteers with Friends of the Weiser River Trail will take good care of you. The bike ride costs $35 for members, and $45 for non-members. Be sure to join the Friends of the Weiser River Trail and support this wonderful trail!

You can register at this online link, or for more information, contact Ride Coordinator Ed Allen at edgart@frontiernet.net or call 208-630-4836. Be sure to dress warm if you go ... it might be quite chilly on Saturday morning at the top end of the trail.

Another can't-miss event this weekend is the North Fork Championship on Friday evening and Saturday on the world-class North Fork of the Payette River. On Friday evening, starting at 5 p.m., a ton of expert paddlers will race downriver from Otter's Slide Rapids to Banks, a distance of about three miles, in an all-out downriver sprint. The top five finishers will join 30 pre-selected elite paddlers who will compete in a slalom course on Class 5+ Jacob's Ladder and Golf Course rapids beginning at noon on Saturday.

Jacob's Ladder is the gnarliest and steepest rapid among the many Class 5 drops on the famed North Fork. Jake's flows into Golf Course, named so for its many "holes" (recirculating frothing reversal features). Racers will have to maneuver around four gates on the course through Jake's and Golf Course. There will be time penalties for hitting the gates or missing them. Ultimately, the winner will be crowned "King of the North Fork," along with a cash prize.

Map of the mighty North Fork and its many Class 5 rapids  from my book "Paddling the Payette"

I'm planning on going up to watch both events. It will be a total rush to watch the downriver race on Friday evening, and see local paddlers like Jim Grossman, Jared Alexander, Tyler Allyn, Will Parham, Joe Carberry and many others vie for those five spots to compete on Saturday. On the "Lower 5," the paddlers will negotiate Otter's Slide, Juicer and Crunch, all Class 5 drops. The North Fork is running around 2,000 cubic feet per second, which will be plenty of water for the competition.

Beyond the paddling competition, there will be lots of fun stuff going on in Crouch in terms of food and drink. Check out these videos to get a sense of the kind of rapids these guys will be running.

On Sunday, the Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association (SWIMBA) will be turning 20 years old. Wow! Some of you may not realize that I was the founding president of SWIMBA, so this anniversary is especially meaningful to me.

We formed SWIMBA in 1992 to protect our access to trails, maintain trails in Hulls Gulch (this was before Ridge to Rivers existed), build new trails and work on mountain bike manners and etiquette. The group has thrived over the years, and gotten stronger through the Fat Tire Festival and significant funds generated through that event. My proudest moment was working on the Boise Foothills Open Space Campaign and winning 60 percent of the vote, securing $10 million to preserve open space, build new trails and bring some existing trails into public ownership.

Anyway, there is a group costume ride Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Need a costume idea? Well, what were you wearing 20 years ago on a mountain bike ride? There's a bike and gear swap from noon to 5 p.m. in Hyde Park by Joyride Cycles, and there will be beers and burgers happening at Harry's.  Sounds like a blast to me!

If you're hungry for more bike events, the Boise Bicycle Project is sponsoring Pedal 4 the People June 9-23. See the event calendar for details. There's a whole bunch of cool stuff planned.

- SS